A farmer paying his newspaper subscription to the Podunk Weekly Bugle with farm produce

Cartoon: F.S. Church; Harper’s Weekly; Jan 17, 1874

A.Word.A.Day

with Anu Garg

podunk

PRONUNCIATION:

(POH-dungk)

MEANING:

noun: A small, unimportant town.

ETYMOLOGY:

Podunk is the name of a river and a native tribe in Connecticut. Over
time the name came to be used for several small towns including a mythical
small and insignificant town. Earliest documented use: 1657.

USAGE:

“His spin on ‘America’s Next Top Model’: take two wannabe club kids from
Podunk towns and with no money, plunk them down in New York with $1,000.”
Kevin Gray; After Prison, No After-Hours; The New York Times; May 15, 2014.